Tax rises will follow UK election unless fiscal rules are ripped up, says thinktank

Niesr’s quarterly economic health check finds that fiscal rules limiting state borrowing restrict the medium- to long-term investment needed to lift UK GDP. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The next government will be forced to hit voters with post-election tax rises and delay net zero investment unless it is prepared to rip up Treasury rules for managing the state finances, a leading thinktank has said.

The National Institute for Economic and Social Research (Niesr) called for a radical overhaul of the self-imposed constraints imposed on government borrowing and debt as it warned that persistently weak growth and lower inflation would make hitting the rules more difficult.